For all of you good people who have been following along with Meg and Josh's mudroom renovation, the big moment has finally come: all the work is complete, and it's time to take a look at the finished space!

The Renovation Diaries are a collaboration with our community in which we feature your step by step renovation progress and provide monetary support towards getting it done in style. See all of our Reno Diaries here.

After a brief (okay, a two and a half month) absence while Josh was fishing in Alaska and a few weeks of vacation time/getting through the first few weeks of the school year, we finally had a free weekend to get back in project mode.

The Renovation Diaries are a collaboration with our community in which we feature your step by step renovation progress and provide monetary support towards getting it done in style. See all of our Reno Diaries here.

It always seems the finish work takes longer than expected. It's that last little bit that makes a big difference in the quality of the job — rush through it and you could end up with a less than stellar room. We took our time — in fact, our 3 days until deadline turned into an extra week.

The Renovation Diaries are a collaboration with our community in which we feature your step by step renovation progress and provide monetary support towards getting it done in style. See all of our Reno Diaries here.

It's been a ridiculously busy week and we have a lot to show for it. With the electrical inspection under our belt, we were finally able to move into the finishing phase of our Mudroom/Nook project. And move, did we ever.

The Renovation Diaries are a collaboration with our community in which we feature your step by step renovation progress and provide monetary support towards getting it done in style. See all of our Reno Diaries here.

Josh wasn't about to put our house in jeopardy and attempt to wire a new electrical panel box — we left that to the pros — but he did take it upon himself to wire new outlets, lighting fixtures and our work shed. Armed with our go-to electrical handbook, The Complete Guide to Wiring by Black & Decker, and the internet, he wired three new outlets and three lighting switches for three sconce lights, one recessed light and one pendant light.

We're obsessed with the fun found items all over Sarah & Brian's Salvaged Stories, and especially how the cool gray walls of their entry let the green and white pieces pop. If you're fans of their industrial mod look, here's how to shop the room:

The Renovation Diaries are a collaboration with our community in which we feature your step by step renovation progress and provide monetary support towards getting it done in style. See all of our Reno Diaries here.

If the electrical was the most challenging step in the renovating process, the next one was definitely the least. After a good ol' break due to...well, life, we called in my brother for a weekend visit. Luckily some good beer from our local brewery, Fort George, enticed him to make the 3 hour trek and help us get back to work.

The Renovation Diaries are a collaboration with our community in which we feature your step by step renovation progress and provide monetary support towards getting it done in style. See all of our Reno Diaries here.

When the dust from demo finally settled, we were able to take in our hard work. Staring at the open layout, we knew we had made the right decision in opening the mudroom to the rest of the space, and so far our hard work hadn't come crashing down on us. But, even with that success, the hardest part was still staring us right in the face.

Sometimes "before" pictures aren't disgusting nightmares that leave you horrified. Sometimes they are perfectly nice, but the owner was just sick and tired of looking at the same layout or piece of furniture. We've all been there and so was Bethany, who'd grown weary of seeing this dark brown trellis pattern first thing after walking in the door. She made a few crucial tweaks without spending a dime — including a mini IKEA hack — and wound up refreshed.

I've been on the hunt for a modern entryway bench and was shocked by many of the sticker prices. How could such a simple piece of furniture end up costing so much? Of course I could always go the the IKEA route, but my thought is that a bench is such a versatile piece of furniture, so I'd rather buy a higher quality piece, since I could see myself hanging onto this for years to come. Here are my finds.